Talking Bush, Safaris & Luxury Travel

James has had a passion for Africa for as long as he can remember, and worked in almost every role in the safari industry there is. He now represents Asilia, assisting agents with their clients and requests. He knows Ruaha extremely well and it is one of his own personal favourite areas of Tanzania.

James discusses all of the Asilia camps, Jabali, Kwihala and Usangu and it was fascinating to hear about the huge input to conservation tourism has in Ruaha National Park.

Pascal is an utterly charming man, who runs the camp with both warmth and great efficiency. He is extremely experienced when it comes to tourism in Tanzania and this really shows in the immaculate way Jabali Ridge operates.

Jabali Ridge is a modern and chic camp nestled in one of the best game viewing areas of Ruaha National Park in Southern Tanzania. Pascal emanates calm and friendliness and you feel instantly relaxed in his company.

Mark is a great character and we loved hearing about the building of Ikuka, which wasn't easy. He is an accomplished and esteemed guide and wildlife photographer, and has huge history in Tanzania - we'd love to do another podcast about that alone!

Mark and his wife Chloe have created a paradise in this remote Tanzanian park which is bound to enchant anyone who stays there.

Chevy is one of the managers at Ikuka Safari Camp in Ruaha National Park, Southern Tanzania. California born and bred she has been in Tanzania for 15 years, doing various fascinating things until ending up as the warm heart of luxury camp Ikuka.

She is a wonderfully friendly person, and makes every single guest feel at home. The camp itself is perfectly appointed with stunning views as far as the eye can see, stunning understated but stylish decor and delicious food. The guides here are exceptional and you will not be disappointed by the wildlife viewing either.

We've been busy out in Ruaha in Southern Tanzania, travelling the length of this amazing National Park and ensuring that the camps and lodges there are up to scratch for our clients - they didn't disappoint.

This is Brian's second very kind foray onto our podcast - he has travelled so extensively in Africa that we could record hundreds of safari podcast episodes with him. His story telling manner, as well as the safari stories themselves, is spell binding. He has just released his memoirs West With The Light and if you only ever read one book about Africa read that. 

'Britain's best wildlife writer' – The Scotsman

''A beautifully written book' – Tony Fitzjohn

'Don't send him to Torremolinos; it's not his kind of tundra.' Such was the mantra of The Sunday Times when considering assignments for Brian Jackman, for whom deserts, rain forests and mountain ranges have always been more enticing habitats. After decades spent travelling and writing about the places and wildlife that have inspired him, one of the world's most experienced naturalists has turned his focus onto the story of his inspirational life.

'This is no ordinary autobiography', he says. West with the Light sweeps through Jackman's wartime evacuation, grammar school, Soho jazz clubs of the '50s and the navy to a career in travel journalism to which his first marriage gave way before he found a new, true and more lasting love that abides to this day in his beloved rural Dorset.

Beginning with memories of Edwardian London and the growth of suburbia, it provides a vivid portrayal of post-war travel and the rise of a new sort of tourism - ecotourism - set against the background of the most turbulent decades the world has ever known. Through it all shines Jackman's lifelong love of nature, instilled by childhood holidays in the West country and the stories that led to his passion for Africa and the big cats that that still walk through his life and dreams.

Rippling across continents with Jackman's natural charm and hallmark stylish prose, his recollections include lively first-hand encounters with pioneering wildlife conservationists like George and Joy Adamson, Iain and Saba Douglas-Hamilton, Richard Leakey, Gavin Maxwell and Jonathan Scott.

Travellers, wildlife enthusiasts, writers and anyone with a love of adventure will adore this book.

We were so honoured that Kim agreed to do our podcast - he has made so many immeasurably magical wildlife programs, all completely unique because Kim actually immerses himself into his subjects lives, gains their trust and thereby catches a lot of unseen footage of the species he is following. Man Cheetah Wild is one of the best cheetah programs we have ever seen.

It goes beyond that too, when the animals grant me the absolute privilege of becoming a part of their lives. There is little, if anything, in life that can be more gratifying. It brings us back to the day when we too (man) used to roam the African plains living alongside these wild animals. A far more natural way of filming…

I had the good fortune of spending my early years growing up in the wilds of Africa: the Kruger National Park, South Africa, where my father, Henry Wolhuter, was the Head Ranger.

My grandfather, Harry Wolhuter, the very first ranger of the Kruger National Park, is a national legend being the only man ever to kill an adult male lion single handed with a knife after it had pulled him from his horse.

After my 2 years national service in the South African mounted infantry and a degree in Grassland Science I entered the wildlife arena managing a game farm in Botswana. Later I served as Senior Warden of Mlawula Nature Reserve in Swaziland before taking up the camera.

Today I find myself following the family tradition, although in a slightly different way, making documentaries on southern African Wildlife. Since 1988 I have made wildlife documentaries for National Geographic, BBC, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

I have now developed a very different niche in the wildlife filmmaking market, where I spend at least 2yrs on a production, getting to bond and develop very intimate relationships with my film subjects, all wild African animals. In the past these have included Leopard, Hyaena, Cheetah and African Wild Dogs. Through these intimate alliances I am not only able to document the animal’s lives up close and personal, but people are seeing these animals in a way they’ve never seen them before and are able to engage more with the animal and almost feel what it’s like to be that animal. I walk, run, hunt and sleep with these animals so much so that they completely accept my presence so everything I document is totally natural behaviour. This intimacy also provides a new look into animal behaviour, which at times is new to science.

I have a very unique and natural affinity to develop these relationships with wild animals. Currently I live on Sango Wildlife Reserve in the Save Valley Conservancy in Zimbabwe, where I’m out every day and often all night living alongside my film subjects. This is no job, but a true passion handed down through generations of our Wolhuter family.

Before retiring in 1948 after 44 years service in the Kruger National Park my grandfather Harry wrote: “My long experience has taught me that, thrilling the pleasures of shooting undoubtedly are, infinitely greater and far more lasting pleasure and interest can be obtained from the observation and study of wild animals, unafraid and uninterfered with, in their natural haunts; and I have never regretted my metamorphosis from hunter to guardian!”

I can only hope he would be proud of me today…"

You really get a sense of what being on safari with Gordie & Felicia would be like in this amazing insight into some of their own safari experiences. They are such a wonderful safari couple, with two wild safari babies now having joined their family. Safaris Unlimited runs some of the most exclusive riding safaris in Kenya, with top quality horses and remote campsites in the Masai Mara, Laikipia and Amboseli. Gordie's family have such a long standing history in Kenya which is also fascinating.

We've known Ryan for years and are thrilled to say he has now joined The Luxury Safari Company team since leaving the Zambian bush to be with his wife and forthcoming baby. His time guiding has meant that he has tonnes of tales of living the safari lifestyle - here are just a few.

Riccardo has had such a varied career before he founded Saruni Camps (Saruni Mara, Wild, Samburu & Rhino) in Kenya that we are sure we could record several podcasts but here we have a few of his tales of his life in Kenya.

He is happily married to Elizabeth, who is English but often more Italian than him.

They own and love an olive oil farm in Maremma, a place that is the Italian equivalent of the places that appear in Riccardo’s book: rough, different, authentic, often forgotten, full of troubled history and a magical present. Quite different from its famous neighbor in Tuscany, the so-called Chiantishire. The farm house is nicknamed Casa Pumba. Pumba is the warthog in Swahili: in Italian is called cinghiale.